Classic Rock
The Band’s Garth Hudson dies at the age of 87
Garth Hudson, the last surviving member of The Band passed away at the age of 87 in his sleep at a nursing home in Woodstock, New York. He was a member of The Band during their existence from 1957 to 1977 and 1983 to 1999, playing keyboards, organ, saxophone, accordion, woodwinds and brass.
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He was always praised by bandmates and producers who even used to say you could take anybody out of the group and still would be The Band, but you couldn’t remove Garth because they wouldn’t sound the same anymore.
Besides being part of all the albums the group released, Garth was also part of the Bob Dylan albums “Before The Flood” (1974), “Planet Waves” (1974) and “The Basement Tapes” (1975), which also had his bandmates.
The Band
The Band was formed in Toronto, Ontario back in 1957 and had the Canadians: Garth Hudson, Rick Danko (Bass), Richard Manuel (Piano), Robbie Robertson (Guitar) and the American Levon Helm (Drums). From 1958 until 1963 they were known as The Hawks, being a backing band for the Rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins and then in the mid-60s gained fame being the backing group for Bob Dylan during his 1966 tour. After they left Dylan, the group finally changed their name to The Band and released several influential albums.
Some of them were “Music from Big Pink” (1968), “The Band” (1969) and “Stage Fright (1970). They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 1994 by Eric Clapton. During his speech Eric Clapton praised them saying: “A standard of craft that really didn’t bow down to any kind of commerciality”.
Richard Manuel was the first one from the classic line-up who died. He passed away in 1986, then Rick Danko in 1999, Levon Helm in 2012 and Robbie Robertson in 2023.